Erratic movement tethered ball striking toy

ABSTRACT

A tethered ball toy is provided wherein several balls are suspended from a line, at least one of the balls being partially filled with a liquid or solid, or being mounted off-center or attached by a short cord to the line such that when one ball is struck it produces erratic movement of the other ball or balls. The suspending line may contain a resilient spring or a shock cored portion, whereby the erratic movement of the balls is further enhanced thus requiring a high degree of agility and coordination to kick, or otherwise strike, the ball several times.

United States Patent 91 Rich [4 1 Jan. 15,1974

[ ERRATIC MOVEMENT TETHERED BALL STRIKING TOY [76] Inventor: Everett W. Rich, 424 W. Pardee Ln., Stockton, Calif. 95207 [22] Filed: Feb. 10, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 114,270

[52] US. Cl. 272/78, 273/58 C [51] Int. Cl A63b 69/20 [58] Field of Search 272/76, 77, 78; 273/26 E, 58 C, 95 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1.694.044 12/1928 Thompson 272/78 1.267;678 5/1918 'McArdle et al 272/78 2.045.972 6/1936 Tompkins 272/77 3.498.613 3/1970 Dreyer 273/95 A 2.942.883 6/1960 Moore 273/26 E 3.310306 3/1967 Burt 273/26 E FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 261,614 11/1926 Great Britain 272/78 Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle Assistant Examiner-R. T. Stouffer Attorney-Clarence O. OBrien and Harvey B.

Jacobson [5 7] ABSTRACT A tethered ball toy is provided wherein several balls are suspended from a line, at least one of the balls being partially filledwith a liquid or solid, or being mounted off-center or attached by a short cord to the line such that when one ball is struck it produces erratic movement of the other ball or balls. The suspending line may contain a resilient spring or a shock cored portion, whereby the erratic movement of the balls is further enhanced thus requiring a high degree of agilityand coordination to kick, or otherwise strike, the ball several times.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures ERRATIC MOVEMENT TETHERED BALL STRIKING TOY Previously a variety of tether ball toys and exercise games have been developed. For the most part, these toys have been fairly simple to master, movement of the suspended ball being more predictable after a fair amount of practice. While such toys and games provide the players with a high degree of enjoyment, they often fail to provide satisfactory challenge to more agile players, nor do they noticeably improve timing and muscle coordination of the players.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a versatile tethered ball game which is enjoyable and challenging to play, and will aid in improving reflexes and muscle coordination over a period of use.

It is a further object to provide a tethered ball game having two or more spaced balls suspended on a single line such that the movement of one produces an erratic movement of the others, making it difficult to achieve multiple strikes.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a game having a suspended ball which is partially filled with a liquid or solid such that it moves erratically and imparts an even more erratic movement to a second ball suspended on the same line.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tethered ball toy having a pair of balls suspended by a single line having a resilient spring or shock cord portion therein to produce a very erratic movement of the balls as they are stuck by a player.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which: a

FIG. 1 illustrates the tethered ball toy assembly.

FIG. 2 shows the erratic movement of the tethered ball assembly, after it has been struck.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the erratic movement producing balls.

FIG. 4 illustrates a solid ball fastened to the line of the assembly.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIG. 1

illustrates the preferred embodiment of the tether ball assembly. It includes a pair of ball-shaped members 10 and 12 which are suspended together from a fixed support means, not shown, such as a pole or a ceiling. A first non-resilient line portion 14 extends downwardly from the support means, and may be connected to a spring I6 which produces an oscillatory up and down movement of the balls during play. A second nonresilient line portion 18 connects the ball-shaped members l and 12 together, such that at least some of the movements of each ball will be transmitted to the other ball.

As shown in FIG. 1, ball 12 is inflatable such as a basketball or similar conventional game ball. It is resilient such that if it is kicked, or otherwise struck, it will rebound, imparting movement to the ball and generally to the entire tether ball assembly. Although the resilient striking ball is shown at the bottom of the assembly, it could be placed in the location of ball 10, or in both locations as hereinafter explained. Ball is included in the assembly to produce erratic movement of resilient striking ball 12. The erratic movement illustrated in FIG. 2 may be achieved in a variety of ways. Ball 10 may be hollow as shown in FIG. 3, and partially filled with a liquid or solid inserted through valve 21, which tends to slosh around inside the ball.

The sloshing movement of the liquid or solid 20 within the ball produces erratic movement of the ball itself which in turn is transmitted to the striking ball 12 making multiple strikes very difficult to achieve. Ball 10 may be mounted into the assembly by way of a pair of eyelets 22, one on either side of the ball. Although the eyelets are shown as being mounted on the balls centerline, they may be offset to produce further erratic movement of tether ball assembly. The outer wall 24 of ball 10 may be either rigid or resilient in nature. When a resilient inflatable ball is used, valve 21 may also be used for inflation purposes, and ball 10 can be used as both a striking ball and an erratic movement producing ball.

FIG. 4 illustrates a solid ball 26 which may be resilient and used as an erratic movement producing ball. The solid ball may contain a hole extending directly through its center or offset from the center as shown in FIG. 4. Support line 14 passes through the hole, and the ball is held in position by knots 28 placed in the line above and below the ball. Such an arrangement provides a tether ball assembly requiring only a single line, rather than two lines 14 and 18 as shown in FIG. 1. It will also be appreciated that with the hole offset from the center, the ball 26 is unbalanced and produces additional erratic movements of the assembly.

The location of the components within the tether ball assembly may be varied to produce various degrees and types of erratic movement. Such variations provide a multiplicity of tether ballgames matched to challenge the skills of the individual players. For example, resilient spring 16, or a shock cord, may be placed between balls 10 and 12 rather than at the top of line portion 16 as shown in FIG. 1. It might also be desirable to use two springs, with one aboveball l0 and one between balls 10 and 12. Likewise, the balls may be interchanged, placing any one of the abovementioned balls in either or both of the positions. Furthermore, the balls may include decorative surfaces such as the funny faces shown in FIG. I. and contain sound making devices, such as bells, to further enhance the color and enjoyment of playing the game. Also, it may be desirable to substitute bags filled with various materials for the balls disclosed above, or to provide more than two balls in the assembly. it

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and'operatlon shown and described. and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A tether ball toy assembly adapted to be suspended i'rom a support, said assembly'comprising a first non-resilient flexible line adapted to be suspended from the support, resilient means attached to the upper end of said first line, an upper ball, means connecting said upper ball to the first line, a second non-resilient flexible line extending downwardly from the upper ball, means connecting the upper ball to the second line, and a lower ball connected to the lower end of the second line, each of said balls being resilient for receiving impacts by manually striking either ball with movement of one ball caused by such striking causing erratic movement of the other ball, said means connecting the upper hollow and partially filled with material capable of movement therein, said lower ball being inflatable with the second line forming the sole means connected to ball to the lines including a pair of oppositely disposed 5 the lower ball to enable free movement thereofeyelets fixed to said upper ball, said upper ball being 

1. A tether ball toy assembly adapted to be suspended from a support, said assembly comprising a first non-resilient flexible line adapted to be suspended from the support, resilient means attached to the upper end of said first line, an upper ball, means connecting said upper ball to the first line, a second nonresilient flexible line extending downwardly from the upper ball, means connecting the upper ball to the second line, and a lower ball connected to the lowEr end of the second line, each of said balls being resilient for receiving impacts by manually striking either ball with movement of one ball caused by such striking causing erratic movement of the other ball, said means connecting the upper ball to the lines including a pair of oppositely disposed eyelets fixed to said upper ball, said upper ball being hollow and partially filled with material capable of movement therein, said lower ball being inflatable with the second line forming the sole means connected to the lower ball to enable free movement thereof. 